Milwaukee’s Community Service Corps is best known as a nonprofit, vocational training organization that provides employment, education and life skills to young adults throughout the city. Their goal is to ‘educate, employ & empower.’

MSCS works with Milwaukee’s at-risk youth (ages 16-24 years) through a very engaged and unique program where they have the opportunity to become educated on how to make their community a more positive and better place to live. The program also gives young men and women the life skills they need to implement their ideas in the real world.

So when breaking it all down, the youth work in a classroom for half a day, then they do actual project work the other half. Each day the youth learn a combination of education, job training and hands-on work experience through a variety of projects. Some of these projects range from housing construction and rehabilitation to light manufacturing of rain barrels. They earn wages and gain valuable experience that relates to Milwaukee’s environmental conservation.

The youth involved in MCSC have contributed over 900,000 hours of service to Milwaukee. Listen to the podcast below to hear from Manager-Work Projects Coordinator, Mike Consiglio, and some of the youth involved.

If you’re looking to volunteer or donate to MCSC or want to learn about other ways you can help, click here.